A person performing continual repetitious motions and localized pressure can lead to musculoskeletal disorders (MSD) such as carpal tunnel and tendonitis. MSDs can be associated with symptoms such as discomfort, pain, numbness, and loss of dexterity, among others. Risk factors associated with MSDs include, among others, repetitive motion, repeated impact, high hand force, and high hand-arm vibration.
High hand force is developed when a person's hands or fingers hold or squeeze an object that requires an effort. High hand force can strain muscles as well as tendons in hands and arms. High hand force directly correlates to the manner in which an object is gripped, e.g., a pinch grip with finger versus a power grip with the entire hand.
Gloves have been used as a means of hand protection to reduce the risk of MSD when conducting manual activities. However, poorly fitted gloves can decrease grip strength, putting a person at higher risk for MSD. Poorly fitted gloves can also inhibit hand and finger dexterity—e.g., reducing blood circulation if gloves are too small for the user's hand.
To help reduce the risk of MSDs, work gloves are used to protect the hand and increase friction, resistance, and/or impact between a hand and an object during coupling, referred to as hand-object coupling.
Some conventional technologies include gloves made of lightweight or thin materials, promoting use in a wide range of tasks. Lightweight materials, however, typically do not increase friction or provide protection against impact during hand-object coupling.
Some conventional gloves reduce impact during hand-object coupling. For example, work gloves may include a foam layer to generally distribute and dissipate impact felt on the hand during coupling. Although the foam layer reduces hand force impact, the layer also adds bulk to the glove, sacrificing dexterity.
Yet other gloves promote increased friction during hand-object coupling. As an example, work gloves textured with or coated by a thin layer petroleum based materials (e.g., nitrile). Coated work gloves provide light, flexible and abrasion-resistant option. However, the coating often reduces dexterity due to the stiffness of the materials used within the coating when in contact with objects during coupling.
Existing technologies fail to show a glove having the ability to increase friction as well as maintain dexterity of a user's hand during hand-object coupling.